Installing canned lights on the porch.

About 3:00 in the afternoon last Saturday, after 7.5 miles of running on the trail, and about 6 hours of yard work, I went inside to take a shower. Scott said he was going to install canned lights on the porch but I didn’t think much of it. I did, however, take his picture. He seemed happy and confident.

After a shower, I went to the kitchen to make potatoes au gratin and this lemon ricotta pound cake. About halfway through the cake recipe, Scott popped his head in and asked if I could help him for about 5 to 10 minutes.

He was installing canned lighting on the porch because I wanted canned lighting. He would not have just decided to do so on his own accord. So, even though I felt like I was in a hurry to finish baking, I could not very well tell him I couldn’t help him with the project he was doing for me.

He had to get into the attic to run wires from one light, to the next, to the next. My job was going to be to make sure the wires were coming through the holes he had cut on the porch. So he found our tallest ladder that would fit in the hall closet with the attic access point closest to the porch. The ladder has three rungs. Not enough. Scott tried to hoist himself into the attic to no avail. He would have to go the long way, through the attic access in the garage, where our tall ladder with more than three rungs would fit. This meant he would need to crawl on his hands and knees about double the distance. Still, Scott seemed optimistic. He told me he would give me instructions when he got above the porch.

Scott was very prepared for the attic. He had two headlamps. Very cool.

He put on a long sleeve shirt for protection from the insulation. In hindsight, perhaps flannel was not the best choice. Austin was about 94 degrees on Saturday.

Attic space near the porch (near the point of a triangle) is at a minimum. He apparently couldn’t get very close to the porch. And I couldn’t hear a thing from where I was supposed to wait for him on the porch. He could hear me. I heard radio silence. So I had to run inside to the closet with attic access where I could hear him, get instructions, and then go try to implement on the porch. My main mission was to feed wire to him between holes. That became difficult when he realized he could only get within about 10 feet of the porch. SO I had to give him all the wire (meaning he had to crawl back to the attic access to get the wire) and then he fed it to me through the holes, while spraying insulation and sheet rock all over me….freshly showered me.

After running between the porch and the closet where I could hear him about 50 times, with Scott’s voice growing more and more irritated, my dear friend Amanda pulls up. Oh good! Perhaps we could pour a glass of lemonade and let Scott sit a few minutes in the 130 degree attic while Amanda and I visit! I wasn’t sure if Amanda’s timing was perfect or terrible but it turned out perfect. She walked in and immediately became the closet liaison. I was on the ladder on the porch, maneuvering wires as they came through the holes. Scott was in the attic feeding wires and telling us what to do. Amanda received instructions and gave them to me. She was a lifesaver!

About 1.5 hours after I was pulled from my baking, Scott came out of the attic looking like this.

He had accomplished the wiring and could just finish up from below. There were many times through the process when I wasn’t sure it would happen, but look at the magnificent finished product.

Pay no attention to the right light which is a different color. We will switch that out. Now, we are now illuminated! And still married. And we saved $300 by doing it “our” selves. I think Scott will gladly pay double to avoid the attic again. Too bad we have six cans to install in the living room–but we will wait for a cooler day for that.

Next up? We must hang curtains so that the neighbors don’t know what we watch on TV.